Blog Archive

Monday, October 11, 2010

Celebratory Banana Bread!

Whew!

The magazine is finished. At least what constitutes “finished” in the publishing world. There are still the printer’s pages to proof, orders to fulfill, and press to do, but that’s mostly on Matthew’s shoulders. As is everything else about HOLIDAY. He is, as you know, the creative genius behind the whole darn thing.

And HOLIDAY is creative. And genius. A perfect reflection of Matthew.

To celebrate my part in this amazing team effort and the dazzling results that I got to preview, I baked banana bread.

I’ve worked with Matthew going on 9 years now. You would think something would have rubbed off on me. But I guess not. No matter how easy the recipe or how good my mood is when I’m tossing ingredients into the bowl, I’m doomed to bake sunken, underdone banana bread for the rest of my life:

It looks nice though, right? Thanks to my TJ Maxx platter and Grammy’s butter dish. I guess Matthew’s gift for presenting food in a beautiful manner is starting to make an impression.

Don’t worry. This gooey, not-quite-right recipe for banana bread is not in Matthew’s magazine. His recipes always turn out. I should know; I’ve already tried a few, such as J.M. Hirsh’s Warm Winter Salad from the Dressed for Dinner story. It won’t be long before we’re holding copies in our hands, and you can try it, too.

In the meantime, here’s something to warm up your oven.

Sarah’s Not-Quite-Right Banana Bread

1 egg

1 cup granulated sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

2 over-ripe bananas, mashed

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees *

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg. In a separate small bowl, combine sugar, melted butter, and bananas. Add to egg mixture and stir to combine. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to egg mixture, and stir to combine. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until center appears set. Cool on a wire rack—and watch dismally as the center sinks. When cool, cut slices, toast them, and enjoy with a smear of butter, cream cheese, or peanut butter.

cut back on your temp to 310-325 and cook it longer. I swear. THe middle always stays up for me when I make banana loaf and cook it longer at a lower temp, but when I try to follow the recipe and cook it at the right/normal temp for the right time (which usually makes it look a dark dark brown) the middle still sinks and gets gooey. Ad my momma says - its always good if its still warm.